James White
ADVENT REVIEW,
AND SABBATH HERALD
[Graphic of the Ark of the Covenant with the inscription beneath,]
“And there was Seen in His Temple
the Ark of His Testament.”
“Here is the Patience of the Saints; Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.”
VOL. XVI. - BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, AUGUST 7, 1860. - NO. 12.
No Authorcode
is published weekly, at One Dollar a Volume of 26 Nos. in advance.
J. P. KELLOGG, CYRENIUS SMITH AND D. R. PALMER,
Publishing Committee.
Uriah Smith, Resident Editor. J. N. Andrews, James White, J. H. Waggoner, R. F. Cottrell, and Stephen Pierce, Corresponding Editors.
Address REVIEW AND HERALD Battle Creek, Mich.
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JESUS loves me - that’s enough
To cheer me when the way is rough,
To soothe, support, and comfort me,
When earthly hopes and pleasures flee;
Loved ones may fail in hours of need,
But Jesus is a friend indeed! ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.1
Jesus loves me - earthly cares
Engrossed upon my soul’s affairs,
Therefore he sent the chastening rod
With time to commune with my God -
It was his love that sent the pain,
And ‘tis his love restores again. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.2
Jesus loves me - he will shield
My soul in life’s great battle-field;
Though “powers of darkness” ‘gainst me rise,
Though Satan to “devour” me tries,
He who repelled the tempter’s power
Will save me in that trying hour. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.3
Oh! “I have all things and abound,“
While I am in my Saviour found,
E’en crosses shunned by flesh and blood
To me are ministers of good.
My joy is more than tongue can tell,
For Jesus loves, and all is well! ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.4
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BY ELD. JOSEPH BATES
THIS paper dates from Boston, Mass. 1860. Joshua V. Himes, Editor and proprietor; well known as a professed leader in the promulgation of the doctrine of Christ’s second advent for the last twenty years. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.5
After a silence of about fifteen years over this subject, he comes forth in this new dress to arouse the world again to the time of the second advent. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.6
The celebrated Dr. John Cumming of London, whose preaching and writings on the second advent of Christ have gained such noted celebrity in both hemispheres, is to be the leading writer; or rather his writings on this subject are to be held forth in this periodical as the most prominent and reliable for that event in 1867. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.7
The editor commences with what he calls “the most important and remarkable work of the age,” viz., “The Great Tribulation, or Things Coming on the Earth, by John Cumming, D. D., heralded by some of the leading periodicals of London and the United States. See pages 1, 12, 2nd Col.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.8
In his introduction Dr. C. says, “I stated in apocalyptic sketches that the last vial, that is, the symbol which denotes the source, and measure, and duration of the “Great Tribulation,” was, in all probability poured out in 1848, from which time to 1867 we may expect to feel its intensest effects.... The great earthquake that accompanies the pouring out of this vial occurred in 1848 when Europe reeled like a drunken man, and kings were thrown from their thrones,” etc. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.9
On page 13, Eld. Himes shows five things to be committed to memory. The fourth one is, “1867 is to be the great crisis in the events of history, in the fulfillment of prophecy, and in the experience of mankind. Read Dr. Cumming on the Great Tribulation.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.10
As Eld. Himes recommends this “Great Tribulation” as a valuable work for students of prophecy and designs to spread it throughout every city, town and neighborhood in the land, I feel interested to examine its premises. The foundation of this “Great Tribulation” then is the pouring out the seventh vial [Revelation 16:17] in 1848, the effects of which are to be felt to 1867, or for nineteen years. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.11
As we have thus far failed to find any history, or a thus saith the Lord to satisfy us that the first six vials have been poured out, we shall have to examine the chapter in which they are given, to learn how Dr. C. arrived at his conclusions, or whether any of the seven have yet been poured out. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.12
1. Revelation 16:2. “And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.13
As the worshipers of the beast and his image are to be marked and known by grievous sores, and finally to be destroyed at the second coming of our Lord [Revelation 19:11, 13, 16, 19, 20], as worshipers of the image, it is plain that the image beast will be known and worshiped only by that generation that lives when our Lord shall come. We ask then, if such worshipers, marked with grievous sores, have been seen in this generation. It cannot be shown. Then there is no image yet to worship; consequently the first vial of the seven is not yet poured out, and Dr. C.’s premises of the “Great Tribulation” are on sliding sand. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.14
2. “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.15
If this vial is in the past, where and when was it, that the sea became like the blood of a dead man? Mariners that are continually on the sea, are silent in this matter. Who can make them tell what they never saw? Again where is the history to prove that every fish has died in the sea, and if so who knows when the sea was filled with living fish again as it is now? If the sea-birds and fishermen cannot tell, should not the landsmen keep silence? ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.16
“This divine testimony may be figurative,” says my reader. Then we ask again, who ever saw the sea figuratively like the blood of a dead man? And where have we any statement in history, or the Bible of figurative fish living in the sea? and figurative fish dying figuratively in the sea? Once more, if we have proved that the first vial is not yet poured out, then we know that the second is yet future. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.17
3. “And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.18
For proof of the literality of this vial, the angel of the waters says, “For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink.” Verse 6. See also an illustration of this in the days of Moses. Exodus 7:19-25. Question: When did the rivers and fountains of water become blood? All history is silent, and also inspired testimony. Then those that shed the blood of saints and prophets are yet to drink blood. Hence the third vial is future. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.19
4. “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God which had power over the plagues; and they repented not to give him glory.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.20
That this is to be literally received is evident; for men blaspheme the name of God, repent and give him glory, literally. It is further clear that because of the literal pain from the scorching of the sun they blaspheme the name of God. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.21
5. “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.22
The seat of the beast is the literal kingdom of Rome. The darkness and gnawing their tongues for pain doubtless refers to the ten kingdoms of Europe (called ten horns) that will hate her (the church) and make her desolate and naked [chap 17:16, 17] in the interval between the pouring out the fifth and seventh vials, because at the pouring out of the seventh vial the 19th verse shows that God will then give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. Where did they receive their sores? Ans. Under the first vial. Here is another proof of the literality of the first vial, and shows the continuance of that dreadful scourge. The effects of it are foreshown by the prophets, Isaiah 3; Ezekiel 7:18; Amos 8:10. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.23
6. “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the waters thereof were dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the Spirits of Devils working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.24
We notice five things that are to transpire under the pouring out of this sixth vial. 1. The waters of the Euphrates are to be dried up. 2. This prepares the way of the kings of the East. 3. The unclean spirits, workers of miracles, called spirits of Devils, that have been doing their work, are at this point out of the mouths of the dragon, beast and false prophet. In other words, their deceptive work is manifestly accomplished. 4. At this point of time the kings of the earth and the whole world are gathering for the battle of the great day of God Almighty. 5. They are gathered into a place called Armageddon. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.25
If we ask again where, and at what age of the world did these wonderful things transpire, will it be received as good and sufficient evidence to be told that learned men have proved satisfactorily that these six vials have all been poured out in past ages, and that it has been a work of many years? Dr. C. on p. two and five of the “Voice” quotes celebrated authors to prove his position, and that the waters of the Euphrates, which he calls the Turkish territory have been drying up since about 1822, and yet does not admit that the drying up is yet accomplished, even under the seventh vial, in 1860. The text declares the waters of the great river Euphrates dried up when the sixth vial was poured out. And what is still clearer, inspiration says it will be done in one day. Proof. “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her my people.... that ye receive not of her plagues.... Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire,” etc. Revelation 8:4, 8. We believe this to be a prophetic day of twelve months, because famine does not cause death in a twenty-four hour day. See also Isaiah 63:4; 34:8; 21:16. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 89.26
Revelation 16:1, shows the wine of the wrath of God to be the seven last plagues. The third angle [Revelation 14:9, 10] declares that the image worshipers shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God without mixture, that is, without mixture of mercy, because when they drink it the gospel will have closed. Chap 19:19, 20 shows the gathering and destruction of the image worshipers after the close of the gospel, and at the second coming of Christ. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.1
Here then we prove by inspired testimony that not one of the seven vials is yet poured out, neither can they be until mercy ceases, or in other words, till the gospel has closed. About twelve months will then be occupied in pouring them all out in successive order; emphatically proving them to be the seven last plagues. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.2
As Revelation 16 and 14:9-11 shows that there is no mercy for worshipers of the beast and his image in that prophetic day when the seven vials of God’s wrath are falling, we think Dr. C. will have to admit that he began his “Great Tribulation” at least twelve years too soon, or that the gospel was finished (according to his statement of the pouring out of the seventh vial) in the year 1848. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.3
We leave Eld. Himes to ponder this matter which he calls “the most important and remarkable work of the age” while we examine the two remarkable discourses of Dr. C. on the prophetic periods relative to the coming of the Lord in 1867, pp.5,6, by the earnest request of Eld. H. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.4
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Proceeds to show the close of the prophetic periods of the prophet Daniel in brief as follows, to 1867, viz.: “A very learned and able clergyman of the church of England, etc., thinks that the 2,300 years of Daniel commence 433 B. C.: if so, then they would end in 1867 when, according to his view Mahometanism will be utterly expunged.” Also the 1260 years began in A. D. 607 when the emperor Phocas constituted Pope Boniface III, the universal head of the church. These two periods added bring us to the same date, viz., 1867. Here the papacy will sink like a mill-stone. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.5
But says Dr. C., “I must say that I prefer Elliot’s; but what I wish to impress is the remarkable fact that both interpretations land us in 1867.” Elliot’s view is, that the 1260 years began in A. D. 532, when Justinian the emperor of Rome made his bishop the universal Pope. These two numbers added carry us to 1792, when the papacy was to be gradually exhausted. “Then there shall be 1290 years. In other words Daniel says that 1260 years shall be augmented by 30 years more; at the end of which 30 years, there shall be some great event which we have to ascertain. Then add the 30 years to 1792 and it brings us down to 1822, where also the 2300 years ended.” “Well, did anything take place in 1822 that would justify that period as a terminating epoch? ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.6
“We find that Turkey, in the language of Lamartine, began to die for want of Turks!” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.7
What profound and splendid ideas! But the author before said, that the ending of the 2300 years in 1822 measure out the taking away of the daily sacrifice. How unscriptural! Then says Dr. C. Daniel mentions three periods all beginning, we assume, at 532; first 1260, ending in 1792; then 1290, ending in 1822, and then 1335, ending in 1867. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.8
As Dr. C. endorses this theory, I will just state his views again to show the unscriptural position he occupies. He states that “Daniel says, the 1260 years shall be augmented by 30 years more (taking it from the 1290 years) that added to 1792 would bring us to 1822 where Turkey began to die for want of Turks.” This manner of augmenting the 1260 years by 30 years more is unscriptural and unjustifiable; for Daniel nowhere intimates anything of the kind, nor any other inspired writer. We will therefore proceed without adding 30 years to the 1260, until some one can show a thus saith the Lord for the addition. Then A. D. 532 is the starting point for the 1260 years, carrying the point to 1792. Now where the 1260 years end, there also end the 1290. The 1335 reach 45 years beyond the 1290, which added to 1792 would bring Dr. C. to the end of the prophetic periods, and what he calls the end of the world in 1837 instead of 1867. Will Eld. H. please think of this, while we set forth his statement of the prophetic periods of Daniel to carry out the judgment hour cry in 1844. Revelation 14:6, 7. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.9
The time times and an half or dividing of time, in Daniel 7 and 12, or 1260 years commenced in A. D. 538, where Justinian made his head bishop the pope. These two periods added, ended 1798 when Berthier took away his dominion. This harmonized with the prophecy as saith Daniel 7:26, and 12:7. The 1290 of Daniel 12:11, Eld. H. declared in the “Signs of the Times,” commenced in A. D. 508, when Clovis, king of France, with a large army abolished the daily Pagan worship and set up in its place the Roman Catholic religion, or what Daniel calls the abomination that maketh desolate. The same as shown also in chapter 11:31. Then the 1290 were added to the 508 which also ended in 1798. Does not Daniel 12:11, say there are to be 1290 from the time the daily is taken away? Yes; then the foregoing addition is right, and there were no 30 years beyond 1798 to be added anywhere. In verse 12 a blessing is pronounced on those that come to the 1335 years from where the 1290 commence. Here then were 45 years to be added on where the 1290 ended, viz., in 1798; this brought us to 1843. How many times he made his opponents yield the point when he stated that the 70 weeks of Daniel 9, were the beginning of the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14, and that the 25th verse pointed to a commandment or decree that would go forth to begin those years, and how readily he pointed them to Ezra 7:1, 7, 13; 9:9, and showed them from thence, and from history that that decree went forth in 457 B. C., which number subtracted from 2300 would leave us in 1843 Roman time, 1844 Bible time. Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.10
How like God and the Bible that looked and sounded then! Such harmony with the prophetic numbers made the world tremble. They ended with the mighty cry, “The hour of his judgment is come.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.11
How different that sounded from the unscriptural calculations of the prophetic periods he is now sending forth, viz., that the 1290 and 2300 days ended in 1822 and Turkey began to die for want of Turks! Surely Newton is dead. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.12
Eld. H. will pardon me for trespassing on his time, while I glance at one more point which he has called our attention to, viz., ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.13
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What is it? Why, the Rev. R. C. Shimeall, member of the Presbytery of New York, has been for about thirty years critically examining the Bible chronology. “He calls on all classes — the clergy and laity, learned and unlearned, the rich and the poor to examine his arguments to prove that 6000 years will end the world’s history in 1868. Eld. Himes says he has examined this work and received much light. He gives us his figures on p.10, and says, Read Mr. Shimeall’s great work! Mr. S. says, from the creation to the commencement of the predicted seven times of Moses and Daniel, are ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.14
| 3480 | years. | |
| Add seven times as above, | 2520 | “ |
| ——— | ||
| Total, | 6000 | “ |
By some means we are not told how Mr. S. shows that the world began ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.15
| 4132 | B. C. | ||
| To which add | A. D. | 1868 | |
| —— | |||
| Total | 6000 |
Simple as water; but who knows how or where he got his starting point? Bishop Usher who gave the chronology of king James’ Bible says the world began 4004 years before Christ. Then in the year 1996 if the world stood, we should have 6000 years. But Eld. H. had better light than that; for his weekly papers and books went forth from his Office in 1843 declaring that the world began in the year before Christ 4157, so that 1843 would fill up the 6000 years. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.16
Now if we could simply know that either of these three statements had the right beginning, we could readily tell when 6000 years would end, but then we should not know that the end of the world would come, because the Bible is silent on that point. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.17
As Mr. S. shows five different ways in his historical and prophetical numbers to make the 6000 years end in 1868, we will pass to the two last which he calls “A SUMMARY OF THE SHORTER PROPHETICAL NUMBERS.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.18
| “I. | 1. | Set down for commencement of the 2300 years |
| 3652 A. M. | ||
| 2. Add years B. C. | 480 | |
| 3. Add years A. D. | 1820 | |
| 4. Add years of the gradual exhaustion of the mystical Euphrates from that date to A. D. 1859. | 39 | |
| 5. Add nine years to A. D. 1868 | ||
| 9 2348 | ||
| ------------- | ||
| Total | 6000 | |
| II. | Set down for the commencement of the 2300 years | 3652 A. M. |
| Then add | 1572, 150, 123, 396, | |
| which makes | 2241 | |
| Add for drying up the mystical Euphrates, Revelation 16:12 | 107 2348 | |
| ------------— | ||
| Total | 6000” |
In the first place Mr. S. allows 48 years for the gradual exhaustion of the mystical Euphrates after the ending of the 2300 years of Daniel, or from 1820 to 1868 to fill up his 6000 years. And then in the second place, to make the 2300 years reach the point to make up 6000 years he allows 107 years for drying up the mystical Euphrates, and cites us to Revelation 16:12, viz., “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates and the water thereof WAS DRIED UP.” In 48 years? or to stretch “the Bible chronology” 59 years longer and make it 107 years to suit Mr. S.’s convenience? No, no. Why? “For her plagues come in one day.” Revelation 18:8. That is, the seven plagues are all poured out in one prophetic day, and if it be ever so clear that the waters of the Euphrates began to be dried up in any sense before they are dried up, then Mr. S. has two places 59 years apart to commence with. We ask then which of the two is right, and at what period his 6000 years will end? ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.19
If such are the arguments to re-arouse the world by a proclamation of the judgment-hour cry [Revelation 14:6, 7], we fail to see their force. Furthermore we fail to see the least ray of hope in such an unscriptural undertaking as Eld. H. proposes; for he, with a host of others proclaimed and finished the judgment hour cry in 1844. Monterey Mich., July 23 1860. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 90.20
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IT was well remarked by one of the speakers at the recent anniversary meetings in this city, that the present times bid fair to be distinguished, in this country at least, not especially as a period of art, of liberty, of humanity, of general comfort or general culture, but pre-eminently as a period of CRIME. The progress and the prevalence of even the grossest forms of wickedness, in different places, and among diverse classes, are facts frightful to observe, and more frightful to ponder. Every newspaper is laden with the records of such. Dishonesty, licentiousness, violence, murder, they do not meet us as exceptional instances; they make the staple of the news of the day; they load and darken the columns of all journals; till one trembles almost to take up the morning paper, is afraid to have it read in the family, and lays it down with a sense of heart-sickness, a saddening impression of the ineffectiveness of our means of public moral and religious instruction, a keen apprehension of what is to be expected in the future. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.1
It is not the rich and luxurious alone, among whom such evidences of viciousness abound. It is not those who are avowedly worldly and godless in their life. Mechanics, merchants, farmers, teachers, physicians, lawyers, ministers of the gospel, men high in social rank and in political influence, women as well as men, the young not only, but the aged, in well nigh equal measure, the refined and cultivated as well as the coarse - all seem to be smit with the foul contagion, and suddenly to break out with the vile and hateful leprosy of sin. Not crimes of dishonesty alone are common; but the murder of wives, of husbands, of children, of the most confiding and affectionate friends, a horrible lustfulness, the most flagrant and fiendish violations of faith - all seem as common as the blossoming of trees, and are coming to be spoken of as familiarly and frequently, and with nearly as little apparent concern, as are the most ordinary and trivial facts. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.2
No one, we think, can feel that in this descriptive outline the case is at all overstated; that any slightest exaggeration of the truth is either intended or allowed. The same impression must be made upon all whose eyes and ears are measurably open to what is publicly passing around them, and who contrast this present state of things, not against some ideal plan of the social state, some fancy of their own as to what might be but what never has been, or even against the comparative pureness of the manners of our fathers, but against the actual state of society as it was in this country only twenty or thirty years ago. That was not Arcadian, but it looks almost so in comparison of the present. It certainly is true that excesses of crime are vastly more common now than then, and that what would then have shocked a community so deeply and indelibly as to be remembered and recounted for years, is now forgotten, beneath the impression of that which follows it, in a few days or weeks. A sense of unsafeness begins to prevail throughout many circles. A sudden death can hardly anywhere occur without exciting the suspicion of foul means. Elopements and domestic infidelities are so common as hardly to excite any remark, unless perhaps a ribald jest. And no sense of strangeness is awakened in the public mind by the story of even a parricide or a wife-murder. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.3
There are many thoughts suggested by this state of things, as also many duties that are palpably impressed by it, to some of which we may very likely have occasion hereafter to refer. But there is one truth so plainly preached by it, and in itself so important and imperative, that we cannot but advert to it for a moment here. It would seem impossible that all thoughtful persons should not be at once and equally reached by it, and should not equally recognize the proof of it. It is, that HUMAN NATURE, as unchanged by grace, is now JUST AS DEPRAVED AS IT EVER HAS BEEN; is, in fact, precisely the same in its character, and the same in its tendencies, that it was in the age of the Roman amphitheater: that it was in the days of the Ptolemies or the Pharaohs. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.4
An intense and passionate selfishness is at the heart of it. It does not seek the interests of others, but primarily its own. It does not seek to honor God, but to gratify its own ambition and passion. It does not acknowledge allegiance to virtue, but aims at indulgence, mastery, pleasure, and at whatever cost, at whatever hazard; and so it has in it the quick seeds of all crime, and only shows these more fearfully and boldly, in more terrific forms of exhibition, as its means and instruments for such revelation become more complete. We have not always been as ready as we should have been to perceive and to feel this; but it is true nevertheless, and the papers now proclaim it with million tongues, and a most appalling and unanswerable emphasis. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.5
It is one of the wide-spread errors of our day - most disastrous and most dangerous - the notion that our institutions of freedom, with an outrunning commerce, a copious prosperity, a generally diffused intellectual cultivation, the discipline and invigoration of the popular mind, the accomplishment of great outward and material works, the wide circulation of religious instruction - that these have essentially elevated man’s nature, and made it less sensual and gross than it was. The gliding on the drug has been believed to have eliminated from it the radical poison; the ornamentation on the outside of the sarcophagus to have arrested the process of decay underneath; the placing of the tiger in zoological gardens to have made him less ferocious than he was in the woods; the housing of mankind in marble or in freestone to have cleansed their inner spirit, and made it less vile and less deadly than it was when the unlettered tribes dwelt in huts or in tents. Perhaps we all have felt something of this. And not a few have really accepted the plausible idea that all these material means and mechanisms were raising a sort of inclined plane, up which men would pass by insensible degrees, till without help of grace it should lift them to the level of millennial attainment. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.6
Away with such dainty and delicate theories! The times denounce them, and unanswerably demonstrate them short-sighted and pernicious! Man is to-day, unchanged by God’s Spirit, precisely what he has always been. He is in Massachusetts, in New Jersey, in New York, what he was in old Rome or older Babylon. This city is Nineveh on another continent, wanting only its readiness to repent. The mechanic at Weymouth, if guilty as alleged, is Caligula or Tiberius, with only, thank God! a less opportunity. The Methodist preacher poisoning his wife, wants only a different occasion and arena to repeat the worst horrors of what we are wont to call, by way of eminence, “the Dark Ages.” The outward glitter and garnish of society have not availed to regenerate man, to reform or essentially to restrain his nature. His manners may be modified, but his temper is still, at the root, identical. His wealth is greater, but his heart is no more God-like than before. He now, as of old, carries in him the furious volcanic fires of idolatry, and of lust, that may break at any time into lurid and devastating manifestation. He is hardly afraid of the law man has made; not at all of the law which is higher than this, the ground of its authority, the measure of its justness, and which has the Eternal and Omnipresent for its executive. He may shrink from human courts, but not from the great assize of the future. He is at heart just as godless as ever, and just as rebellious; making gods for himself of his pride and lusts, and of his greed for worldly good, and wishing that the Almighty were out of the way, ready to hurl him from his throne each moment, to gain the liberty of unlimited indulgence; of doing precisely what he wishes! When we get to the center of the nature of man, as shown in the current history of our times, it is precisely this that we find there; unchanged by years; unremoved by the progress of outward civilization; tastes and tendencies just as vicious as ever; capacities for cruelty, treachery, falsehood, for crimes of every grade and die, exactly the same in kind and in measure, that have been shown along the bloodiest passages of the past. - Any other description of this nature mis-states it. Any other view of it essentially misconceives it. To try to change it by any other means than those which reach the heart itself, and rectify that, is to treat its inward hurt too slightly. And it is not the pulpit that now alone or chiefly preaches this; but it is the common speech of men. A thousand newspapers are every day announcing and repeating it, with an appalling irresistible energy, to the whole reading world! ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.7
Let us think of this, and feel it! and let the force of its meaning and the lessons of its verity, instruct and inspire us as of right they ought. - Independent. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.8
As the Independent accounts for this sad state of morals on the ground that “human nature unchanged by grace is now just as depraved as it ever has been,” it must admit, in view of the late exceeding increase of these manifestations of depravity, that the restraining grace of God has less hold upon the hearts of men than it formerly had. This is just what Inspiration has told us to expect, in the unequivocal language of 2 Timothy 3:13: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” And this, be it remembered, is laid down as a prominent and unmistakable sign of the “last days.” What description of the fulfillment of this sign could be more graphic, than the foregoing article? - ED. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.9
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The Boston Transcript tells us of a “pastor who was in the habit of picking the large stones from the roads as he walked, and teaching his flock to do the same.” We love that habit of mind - that giving of an airing to the religion of the closet; and we coincide also in the still further remark of our bright contemporary: “Give us the man who, in city or suburbs clears a path, sprinkles sand or ashes on the ice, drains off the standing water in front of his premises, turns out in his sleigh for pedestrians, or keeps to the far side or middle of the road, to save walkers from the dust, is careful not to compel foot passengers to go into the mud to let his horse have the driest track, and steers clear of curb-stones that people may not be sprinkled by the splashing of hoofs or the rolling of wheels through mud-puddles - give us this man, and you give us a gentleman in the true sense; nay more, a Christian - in little things.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.10
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THE Bible itself is a standing and an astonishing miracle. Written fragment by fragment, throughout the course of fifteen centuries, under different states of society, and in different languages, by persons of the most opposite tempers, talents and condition, learned and unlearned, prince and peasant, bond and free; cast into every form of instructive composition and good writing, history, prophecy, poetry, allegory, emblematic representation, judicious interpretation, literal statement, precept, example, proverbs, disquisition, epistle, sermon, prayer; in short all rational shapes of human discourse; and treating moreover on subjects not obvious, but most difficult; its authors are not to be found, like other writers contradicting one another upon the most ordinary matters of fact and opinion, but are at harmony upon the whole of their sublime and momentous scheme. - Professor Maclagan. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.11
He that pursues honor, applause, or worldly reputation, is like the foolish schoolboy running after the butterfly, and neglecting his book; both meet with disappointment, dissatisfaction and reproof. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 91.12
No Authorcode
“Sanctify them through thy TRUTH; thy word is truth.”
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, AUGUST 7, 1860
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“I WAS in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; and, What thou seest write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.” Revelation 1:10, 11. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.1
The words, “which are in Asia,” are found in a table of spurious readings, in the New Testament translated by Macknight, Doddridge and George Campbell, published by A. Campbell. The text there reads:- ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.2
“What you see write in a book, and send it to the seven congregations, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.3
Sawyer translates, “What you see write in a book, and send to the seven churches, to Ephesus,” etc. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.4
Whiting translates, “What thou seest write in a book, and send to the seven churches, to Ephesus,” etc. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.5
Adam Clarke says, “In Asia. This is wanting in the principal MSS. and versions. Griesbach has left it out of the text.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.6
The American Bible Union recommends that “the words which are in Asia be omitted.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.7
John is commanded to write in a book what is shown to him, which embraces the entire book of Revelation. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.8
In chap 22:18, it is called “the words of the prophecy of this book.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.9
The book of Revelation is dedicated to the seven churches, which, as we shall endeavor to show, represent seven conditions of the Christian church, in seven distinct periods, covering the ground of the entire Christian age. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.10
This book is a prophecy. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.” Chap 1:3. This blessing can be enjoyed only by those who live in the time of the fulfillment of certain portions of the prophetic book down to the end, where it may be enjoyed in its fullness. Hence the wisdom in dedicating the book to the Christian church during her seven periods. Prophecy relates to the future. It is history in advance. History is the record of events past and present. Therefore Revelation 2 and 3 is not a historical description of churches existing eighteen hundred years since. Those chapters form one of the great chains of the prophetic book. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.11
The great design of the book of Revelation is to foretell future events, with which the church should be connected, in the Christian age. “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.” Chap 1:1. In a few instances, past and present events are mentioned in this book, as in the case of the woman with the crown of twelve stars, and the man-child which was caught up to God and his throne [Revelation 12:1-5], but in all such cases the past and the present are alluded to only to introduce future events, which in every case are the burden of the prophecy. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.12
We will now take up the churches in their order as given in the Revelation. We give the definitions of the names of the churches as significant of the character of the several periods of the Christian church. Let them have the weight they deserve. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.13
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“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write: These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks: I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and has found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:1-7. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.14
Ephesus signifies, “desirable, chief.” This was true of the first age of the church, in the apostles’ days. They had received the doctrine of Christ pure from the mouth of the great Teacher, and the Holy Spirit was poured out and rested upon them. The gifts of the Spirit were in the church. It was noted for “works,” “labor,” and patience, and could “not bear them which were evil.” God could dwell with such a church, and manifest his power in their midst. Yet there were some things against this church in consequence of which they were called upon to repent. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.15
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“And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive: I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, but thou art rich; and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” Verses 8-11. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.16
Smyrna signifies “myrrh,” denoting that the church in this age would be a sweet-smelling savor to God, while passing through the fiery ordeal of persecution; which has always served to keep out pride, popularity, and self-dependence - the bane of true faith, piety and devotion. This state reached down to Constantine, covering much of the period called the ten persecutions. See Buck’s Theological Dictionary pp.332,333. For want of room we can give here only his statement of the last. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.17
“The tenth began in the nineteenth year of Diocletian, 303. In this dreadful persecution, which lasted ten years, houses filled with Christians were set on fire, and whole droves were tied together with ropes and thrown into the sea. It is related that 17,000 were slain in one month’s time: and that during the continuance of this persecution, in the province of Egypt alone, no less than 144,000 Christians died by the violence of their persecutors: besides 700,000 that died through the fatigues of banishment, or the public works to which they were condemned.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.18
The tribulation of “ten days,” mentioned in the testimony to the Smyrna church, may well apply to the last of the ten persecutions, which continued ten years: yet some apply it to all ten. The continued scenes of martyrdom and dreadful cruelty continually before this church were sufficient to keep hypocrites and worldlings out of the church: and the constant expectation that some dreadful death would end their probation, led them to purity of life. There is no fault found with this church. “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life,” was the only hope before this church. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.19
UrSe
“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write: These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges: I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is; and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.” Verses 12-17. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.20
Pergamos signifies, “very earthy, elevated.” This period reached from Constantine, about 313, down to the rise of antichrist, about 538. During this period the church became very earthly, having her worldly policy, and, like the church of this day, attending to the ceremonies and forms of religion, and neglecting inward piety, the graces of the Spirit, and the life and power of the religion of Jesus. Here was the falling away mentioned by Paul. 2 Thessalonians 2:4. Fault is found with this church, and it is here called upon to repent. But this was the age that prepared the church to receive to her bosom the monster, “man of sin,” “son of perdition.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.21
UrSe
“And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass: I know thy works, and charity, and service and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou suffered that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira (as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak), I will put upon you none other burden; but that which ye have already, hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron: as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Verses 18-28. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.22
Thyatira signifies, “sweet savor of labor, or sacrifice and contrition;” and is a description of the church during the 1260 years of Papal supremacy. This age of dreadful cruelty, and martyrdom of the true church, improved her real condition. “I know thy works, and charity, and patience, and thy works: and the last to be more than the first.” How necessary to the purity and prosperity of the church has been persecution and affliction! and how corrupting and destructive to holiness has been worldly prosperity. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.23
Verse 20 is strong testimony that we have correctly applied these churches. Jezebel is a figurative name, alluding to Ahab’s wife, who slew the prophets of the Lord, led her husband into idolatry, and fed the prophets of Baal at her own table. A more striking figure could not have been used to denote the Papal abominations. See 1 Kings 18, 19, 21. It is very evident from history, as well as from this verse that the church of Christ did suffer some of the Papal monks to preach and teach among them. In verse 25 is the charge, “Hold fast till I come.” Here is evidence that some who lived near the close of this age of the church would live until the Lord should come. The signs in the sun and moon were fulfilled in 1780, eighteen years before the close of this period; and in reference to these signs the Saviour said, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth near.” Luke 21:28. The time had come for the church to look up and expect her coming Lord in the clouds of heaven; hence it is said to some in Thyatira, “Hold fast till I come;” to the Sardis church, “If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee:” and to the church in Philadelphia, “Behold I come quickly.” The coming of the Lord is not named in the testimony to the churches before this; but “be thou faithful unto death,” is the charge to them. They could not scripturally look for Christ’s second coming in their day. Says Paul, “Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed.” Here the church is carried down past the apostasy, and the revelation of the Papacy - down to the period of the special signs of the second advent before she can scripturally expect Christ’s second coming. These facts are overwhelming evidence that the seven churches denote seven periods of the entire Christian church from the first advent down to the second advent of Christ. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 92.24
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“And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Chap 3:1-6. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.1
Sardis signifies, “song of joy, or that which remains.” If we are correct in the application of the first four churches, then Sardis represents the nominal churches for the last half century, or more. This church has a name that it lives, but is dead. Look at the exalted position, and name which the nominal churches have had among the nations of the earth. Look at her high-sounding titles, and the applause she receives from what is called the world. The nominal churches have the name of the churches of Jesus Christ, and have the credit of doing much for the world. But they are dead - dead to the pure principles of the gospel, and to good works, as laid down by Christ and the apostles. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.2
But there are “a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments,” etc. To this church the message of the coming of the Lord is given, and the cry, Come out of her my people. A few hear, believe and obey. These came out of all the several denominations, and united upon the glorious theme of Jesus’ coming, leaving their denominational tenets behind, and formed the ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.3
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“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth: and shutteth, and no man openeth: I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie: behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Verses 7-13. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.4
Philadelphia signifies “brotherly love,” and expresses the position and spirit of those who received the advent message up to the autumn of 1844. As they came out of the sectarian churches, they left party names and party feelings behind, and every heart beat in union as they gave the alarm to the nominal churches and to the world, and pointed to the coming of the Son of man as the consummation of the true believer’s hope. Selfishness and covetousness were laid aside, and a spirit of consecration and sacrifice was cherished. The Spirit of God was in every true believing soul, and his praise on every tongue. Those who were not in that movement know nothing of the deep searching of heart, consecration of all to God, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost, and pure, fervent love for each other, which true believers then felt. Those who were in that movement are aware that language would fail to describe that state of “brotherly love.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.5
It will be necessary, for want of room, to pass by many things of interest in the testimony to this church as we have in the testimonies to the former churches; but we call especial attention to verse 7, which establishes the chronology of the church of brotherly love. “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.” That Christ is here described, no one will deny. He is the rightful heir to David’s throne, hence has the key of David, which may represent power. The throne of David, or Christ, on which he is to reign, is in the capital of his kingdom, the New Jerusalem now above. The opening and shutting can refer only to the change of ministration from the holy to the most holy of the heavenly sanctuary, at the end of the 2300 days, in 1844. It was then that the ministration in the holy place closed, and the ministration in the most holy for the forgiveness of sins, and to cleanse the sanctuary, was opened by him that hath the key of David. “Behold, I set before thee an open door.” “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” Revelation 11:19. We can apply texts of this class to no other events than Christ’s entering the most holy, in 1844, and opening his ministration there, where the ark of ten commandments is, hence, since that time the Sabbath, with the whole law of God, has been present truth in a special sense. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.6
Compare with the above texts, Daniel 7:13, 14; Psalm 2:8, 9; Revelation 11:15; Matthew 25:10. That Christ receives the kingdom, takes the throne of David, before his second advent, is plainly taught. This union is represented by the marriage [Matthew 25:10], and is called “the marriage of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:7. Since 1844, has been the patient, waiting, watching time. “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God.” Revelation 14:12. “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding,” etc. Luke 12:35, 36. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.7
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“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich: and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten: be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Verses 14-22. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.8
Laodicea signifies, “the judging of the people,” or, according to Cruden, “a just people,” and fitly represents the present state of the church, in the great day of atonement, or judgment of the “house of God,” while the just and holy law of God is taken as a rule of life. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.9
It has been supposed that the Philadelphia church reached to the end. This we must regard as a mistake, as the seven churches represent seven distinct periods of the true church, and the Philadelphia is the sixth, and not the last state. The true church cannot be in two conditions at the same time, hence we are shut up to the faith that the Laodicean church represents the church of God at the present time. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.10
The conditional promises to the Philadelphia church are yet to be fulfilled to that portion of that church who comply with the conditions, pass down through the Laodicean state and overcome. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.11
But, dear brethren, how humbling to us as a people is the sad description of this church. And is not this dreadful description a most perfect picture of our present condition? It is; and it will be of no use to try to evade the force of this searching testimony to the Laodicean church. The Lord help us to receive it, and to profit by it. What language could better describe our condition as a people, than this addressed to the Laodiceans? “Neither hot nor cold,” but “lukewarm.” It will not do, brethren, to apply this to the nominal churches, they are to all intents and purposes “cold.” And the nominal Adventists are even lower than the churches, who justly look down upon them with horror for the infidel views held by many of them, of no Sabbath, no family prayer, no Devil, no operation of the Holy Ghost, no pre-existence of the Son of God, and no resurrection of the unjust. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.12
The word “hot,” represents the fervency, zeal and good works which are in accordance with the Scriptures. This is not our condition; yet the feeble efforts put forth by us as a people are such that we cannot be said to be “cold.” We are “lukewarm.” “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” These are words of dreadful import. A thorough change is the only hope of the remnant. Here follows the reason why we are so offensive to the Lord: “Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.” We may not have boasted of our gold, silver, or of this world’s goods; but have we not had, more or less, an exulting and an exalted spirit, in view of our position on plain Bible truth? Our positions are fully sustained by an overwhelming amount of direct scriptural testimony; and certainly a theory of divine truth is indispensable; but we as a people, have evidently rested down upon a theory of truth, and have neglected to seek Bible humility, Bible patience, Bible self-denial, and Bible watchfulness, and sacrifice, Bible holiness, and the power and gifts of the Holy Ghost, which the church may enjoy, according to the plain testimony of the Bible. Hence it is said, “And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” What a condition! ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.13
And it is to be feared that many a poor Laodicean is so fast in this delusive snare, as to never fully feel the force of the counsel of the Saviour, to buy of him “gold tried in the fire,” “white raiment,” and “eye-salve.” These we cannot regard as representing the present truth, but rather the graces of the Spirit, and attainments in the Christian course, which the present truth should lead us most earnestly to seek for. “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent.” God’s honest people will feel greatly rebuked and chastened by this description of their condition and they will repent heartily, zealously: but from the words, “as many,” etc., we may fear for some whose self-righteousness, and self-dependence, have carried them beyond the reach of the reproving Spirit, and the counsel of the true Witness. Dear brethren, read and weep over the touching language from His lips which follows. It is to you. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.14
“Behold I stand at the door and knock; If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” How careless many of you have been of the reproofs and warning which the dear Saviour has given for your benefit. He has been slighted and shut out by you till his locks are wet with the dew of night. O, open your hearts to him. Let you hard hearts break before him. O, let him in. A deep work of consecrating yourselves and all you have to him, will be necessary to prepare the way for him to come in and sup with you and you with him. We dwell with pleasure upon this affectionate, this touching figure. What an illustration of communion with Christ! Who would not joyfully spread the table and open the door for the dear Saviour to partake with them the last meal of the day, were he now a pilgrim on earth as at the first advent? This we cannot do; but we can do those things required of us and prepare the way of the Lord in our own hearts. Covetousness, pride, selfishness, and love of the world must be put out of the heart before the Saviour will come in. O, be not deceived. Take the declarations of Christ and the Apostles, which point out your duty as Christians, especially those which apply to you in the last stage of the church, while waiting for the coming of the Son of man, and let that word, like a two-edged sword, pierce your heart. O, ye Laodiceans, our mouth is open unto you. Be not deceived as to your real condition. Christ will spew you out of his mouth unless you are zealous and repent. Are you honoring the Lord with your substance, or are you covetous and worldly? Are you laying up treasure on earth, or in heaven? Is your love for the cause and the salvation of your fellow men increasing? or is it waning away? Are you more watchful of your words, and the Spirit you manifest? or are you growing careless and losing your power to watch? Are you dying daily, so that pride is put out of your heart? or does it find a rich soil, and flourish there? If the latter be your case in all these questions, no marvel that the dear Saviour is shut out and now knocks for admission. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 93.15
Dear brethren, we must overcome the world, the flesh, and the Devil, or we shall have no part in the kingdom of God. Read the gracious promise to those of the Laodiceans who overcome. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Those only who suffer with Christ will reign with him. We have much to overcome. May God help us to set about the work with zeal. Our guide in this work must be the plain word of God as it reads. That exposes our sins, and declares what we must be. If we are zealous and repent, and overcome, according to that word, we shall reign with Christ. If not, Christ will spew us out of his mouth, cast us off forever. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.1
Dear brethren, lay hold of this work at once, and in faith claim the gracious promises to the repenting Laodiceans. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.2
J. W.
UrSe
EVIDENCE. We cannot condemn a brother on the evidence of common fame: but he who seeks to bridle his iniquities, and cloak his crimes under this principle, throws himself upon the vengeance of Him whose eye and ear are never closed, and whose retributions are terrible. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.3
WHOSE ARTICLE IS THIS? Suppose a person should rise in social meeting, and exhort in disguise with a concealed name, and leave us so; would it indicate modesty? I know it is customary for some to write under an assumed name; but this is the relic of a dark age. I assure you brother, it would be pleasing to us away here in the back settlements, to know the names of those who write. It is our only way of getting acquainted with you. Suppose all who write for the Review should assume a star, or a Latin, or Greek, or Hindoo name, what a farcical masquerade we should have! No need of the commandment-keepers being so excessively modest. We are not ashamed of our cause, nor afraid of our principles. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.4
TEMPTATIONS must be resisted instantly, and overcome promptly. Christ did not wait a moment when he had occasion to rebuke Satan; in every case he reproved at the moment of the offense. Our hearts may be compared to a fort, besieged by the enemy, who if once admitted, will not relinquish his ground without a terrible struggle, if at all. Promptness, decision, courage - all are necessary. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.5
“MAKING BELIEVE.” Christ compared the Jews to children in their plays, imitating the most solemn employments of their superiors (as children often play this and that, perhaps having a meeting or school), so now, some who would not call themselves children, with grave recklessness, receive from their priests the consecrated wafer, while the aforesaid priests guzzle the wine. This is “making believe” take the Lord’s supper. Others sprinkle a few drops of water upon an infant - this is “making believe” baptize: and many more observe Sunday, visiting, going to meeting, feasting etc.; this is “making believe” keep the Sabbath, and a certain number of these practices combined with a decent exterior (often hollow and painted, which makes it more decent in common parlance), make what is by a “make believe” people considered a tolerable “make believe” Christian. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.6
SHALL BE ADDED. Christ does not say seek first the world and its treasures, and heaven shall be added (as Worldly-Wiseman preaches), but seek first the kingdom of heaven. Let this be first, be paramount to everything else, the one leading consideration, swallowing up every other, the governing, regulating principle, which like the leaven diffuses itself throughout the whole man, and stamps the character of every act; to such a man God will send the raven with food rather that he should want. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.7
Worldly-Wiseman hardly assents to the above. Hear him. “I would recommend to every young man on setting out in life, to get religion, and lead a moral life. It is the surest means of establishing a character in the world. I never lost anything by it. It has been a gain to me. I have got a good property by this course, and now I can help the poor by this means. I hardly ever lose by helping the poor. If they cannot pay now, I charge a little more to make it up. Nothing hurts a poor man like giving him gifts. Thus you see religion can be made to pay as we go. Thus I find godliness with contentment to be gain. And as to any day being holy, I believe all days are holy. It is the heart God looks at,” etc., etc. Thus reasons Worldly-Wiseman; and he considers his knowledge and experience sufficient to qualify him to teach. What is lamentable is, that Worldly-Wiseman is a living specimen of a host of like character. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.8
WATCHING. Some think the command to watch, is for them to take a general oversight of their teachers; and so diligent are they in this, they neglect their own hearts, until some rank weeds flourish, to the danger of themselves and others. Such remind one of the astronomer who watched the course of heavenly bodies with such solicitude, that finally he got to fancy himself a sort of guide to these celestial systems, and in his wild flights, would talk of the danger of his getting asleep, or off his watch, and these planets thus running into disorder. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.9
LOITERING upon the walks, and in the stores, is a very unprofitable practice. Christ was in the market-place, but only as a teacher, or physician, or reprover: and as soon as his errand was accomplished, how he delighted to repair to the solitude of the mountain, or forest. Devotion loves retirement, and here she nerves her powers for action: and when duty calls us to remain upon the walks or public places of resort, when we find inquirers there who desire light, and truth, and salvation, there is the place for action; but when this duty is discharged, and no other presents itself to detain us, we will haste to where we can be in the way of duty, and in the paths of peace. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.10
THE GRUMBLER. He is afraid of freshets when the rain is plentiful, and of drouth if it is scanty; he always looks a great ways ahead. If it is warm enough for corn he is afraid for the wheat, and if it is cool enough for wheat he is afraid for the corn crop. If he is rich he quarrels and goes to law, and if this makes him poor he quarrels with those who try to assist him. He can’t bear a gift, yet wants all he can clutch by legal means. He thinks God is his God, and that all light and bounty should reflect upon so worthy a Christian as himself. There are too many grumblers. Let us contemplate their fall when the manna became for them too light food. Alas, poor man knows not how indulgent his heavenly Father has been. Oh how bountiful! Count his daily mercies to all men, in all ages, in all climes - mercies suited to every season, and every climate, repose for the weary, food for the hungry, clothes for the naked, in heat and cold, in sickness and health, in childhood and age, mercies for all: yet all abused, all slighted, all supposed to be due. And if by heavy provocations these are for a moment withheld, these wicked murmurers blaspheme God, who holds back his anger, lest his poor murmurers should die in a moment. Oh what love! ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.11
J. CLARKE.
UrSe
WORLDLY sorrow worketh death
Sink not beneath its power;
’Twill darken much that else were bright,
In mercy’s lingering hour. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.12
Forgotten be the trials past,
The present meekly borne;
Our burdens cast upon the Lord,
Who comforts those that mourn. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.13
With heavenly wisdom we shall know,
What God would have us do;
While moving in his order on,
Our hope and strength renew. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.14
Revived and strengthened we’re prepared
To spread the truth abroad,
Beseeching men in Jesus’ stead,
Be reconciled to God. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.15
Then jewels will be gathered in,
The church built up again,
And all prepared to meet the Lord,
Who’s coming soon to reign.
MRS. R. SMITH.
West Wilton, N. H. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.16
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How necessary that we make a wise choice. “What man is he that feareth the Lord, him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.” The promises are to such as choose the Lord for their guide, protector and Saviour. In the case of Abel, who made choice of the firstlings of his flocks and of the fat thereof, we read that the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offerings; but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect; but the Lord said unto him, If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted? Cain had the opportunity to make the wise choice as you and I have to-day, dear reader; but if we do not, it must be with us as the Lord told Cain, “If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.17
It may be with you as it was with Joseph who was sold by his brethren, and endured many severe trials; but he chose the Lord as his protector, and he in due time was wonderfully blessed. There are others who have chosen God to lead them, and then have forsaken him. We read of the children of Israel choosing the Lord, and of the Lord’s presence with them, by the hand of Moses, he choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward, fearing not the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible; he with the children of Israel being delivered from Pharaoh. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.18
But we find them forsaking the Lord after he had so wonderfully blessed them, as we read in Exodus 32:1. “And when the people saw Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.” Are there not those who, like the children of Israel, have chosen the Lord and run well for a season, but have said finally Let us make unto ourselves gods. In this we perceive that they are leaving the Lord. As the children of Israel were inclined not to care what became of Moses, so is it with those that have forsaken to heed the commands of God. The command to Israel was, Thou shalt have no other gods before me; and again, The Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven, ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. But how soon they disobeyed. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.19
God has spoken from heaven unto us by his Son saying, Keep my commandments as I have kept my Father’s commandments. Our blessed Saviour kept his Father’s commandments - all of them - without any exception, and has told us to keep them without any exception, as we find in John 15:10: If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 1 John 3:22. And whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 94.20
I sometimes hear those who profess to be looking for the Lord to come soon, say, Why do you urge the keeping of the commandments? Because, I reply, I find in the word of the Lord that the Saviour urged the keeping of them. He said unto the young man, Matthew 19:17, Why callest thou me good; there is none good but one, that is God; but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Again in 1 John 5:2: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. I feel as the Psalmist expresses himself, Psalm 119:126: It is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void thy law. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.1
May the Lord move on the hearts of such as profess to be the children of the Most High God to humbly submit themselves to his holy law, have the patience of the saints, and keep the faith of Jesus. Then, when we behold the white cloud and one sitting thereon like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, we can with confidence behold him and claim him as our God: for he comes to save us. We have waited for him, we may very very soon expect him, for surely all these things are being fulfilled in a very short space of time. We see the political horizon gathering blackness, and soon the crashing of nations will be heard, the great battle of Armageddon will be fought, when those who refuse to make the choice of eternal life must forever perish. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.2
Brother pilgrim, struggle on a little longer, a few more risings and settings of the sun, and we shall sing the song of Moses and the Lamb in the beloved city of God, no more to suffer in the body, but all will be peace for evermore, Amen. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.3
Yours on the watch, waiting for the coming One, ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.4
E. MACOMBER.
New Shoreham, R. I., July 13, 1860.
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LOVE is exemplified by works as well as faith. People will show the amount of their faith by their works. They will live out all the faith they have, and in the same manner they will live out their love. Deception in this respect is very difficult, but mark, we are not to judge by their profession, but by their works. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.5
Love is generally excited by good qualities in the object loved. Our love should bear some proportion to the excellent qualities of the object. We should not love that which is not good; and again we should love that most which is the best. Carrying out this principle we shall love God supremely. And now let us notice one feature in which love is shown by words and actions. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.6
He that really loves God will not think or speak ill of him, or do that which is contrary to his wishes. If you should hear a person speak reproachfully of the Most High, would you think that he loved him? Certainly not. It is he that hates God who thinks and speaks ill of him, and works against his government. He that loves God speaks of him with tenderness and respect. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.7
The child that loves its parents will have the greatest respect for them, and is filled with pain when anything is said which reflects on their character. The mother that loves her son treats with contempt the slanderous reports circulated about him. What would you think of a mother that would take apparent satisfaction in listening to an evil report of her child? If she loves her children she will look on what they say and do in the most favorable light possible, and although she may see some things in them which are wrong, she concludes it is only an error of the judgment, that their motives are sincere. She will not criticize everything they say, and talk it over and over to see if something bad can be made out of it. I do not see how this conclusion can be avoided, and now I want to make an application of it. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.8
If this rule is correct it will apply with equal force to the church. The church is the family of God, and it is just as bad for his children to injure one another, as it is for the children of earthly parents to do so. Take care how you talk about his little ones, for a jealous Father watches over them, and will take vengeance on those who offend. If you love your brethren and sisters, you will not be talking over their failings. The Lord has not told us to cover up the faults of others, neither has he told us to publish them abroad. If you see a fault in a brother or sister, go to the person in the spirit of meekness, and talk about it; but if you refuse to do this, hold your peace, and not talk with all the rest about it. Some are in the habit of taking particular notice of what a brother or sister may say, especially in meeting, that does not agree with their notions; and then they will go home and talk it over with this one and that one, and find as much fault as possible. No matter whether the brother meant them or not, they will be offended, and even sometimes call him reproachful names. Does he love his brother? Nay, verily. It is a moral impossibility for one man to love another and speak ill of him. I care not what he professes, his works will show what he possesses, and it sometimes happens that he that has the least practical love will talk the most about it. Let backbiting and whispering forever cease from among the remnant. “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor.” H. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.9
No Authorcode
“Then they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another.”
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DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS: I have long thought of giving in my testimony with you through the Review, but have felt so incapable of saying anything to edify, I have withheld. I read your interesting letters again and again, and am encouraged by them to press my way on through this sinful world. It was three years last April since I commenced keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. Since then I have been striving to keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus; but I have my trials, and at times it seems as though the waves would overflow me. I however feel to thank God to-day that he has been merciful to me, unworthy as I have been. I am bound by the grace of God assisting me, to make heaven my home. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.10
When I look back upon my past life, I can truly say that the goodness of God has followed me all the days of my life. Blessed be the name of the Lord forevermore! I can see the precious promises of God as I never could before. O I feel to take fresh courage, to be more watchful, more prayerful day by day, that I may overcome every sin which doth so easily beset me. While I write and meditate on the great and glorious promises, my heart burns with love to God and to my fellow-beings. Truly my soul waiteth, on God. He only is my rock. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.11
O brethren and sisters, let us be faithful that we may be enabled to hear the lovely Jesus say, It is I, be not afraid. O let us be faithful to God, whatever may oppose. Pray for me that I may overcome the temptations of Satan and the world, and finally meet you in the kingdom. Your unworthy sister striving for eternal life. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.12
S. M. COLBY.
Iowa City, Iowa.
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BRO. SMITH: It is over two years since I embraced the third angel’s message, and have been trying to walk in obedience to all of God’s commandments. Since that time I can truly say that I have been led in a way which I knew not, and also have been made to rejoice many times while contemplating the goodness of God, and his great mercy in showing me his truth. I believe with all my heart that the Lord is in the work, and that while he is uniting and preparing his people to go up into the gaps and make up the hedge, to prepare them to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord, another class of professed Christians will be crying peace and safety when sudden destruction is coming upon them. In view of these things is it not the duty of those who are trying to be the repairers of the breach which has been made in God’s holy law, to cry aloud and spare not, and lift-up their voice like a trumpet, and show his people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins? ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.13
We truly are living in a solemn time, when the last message of mercy is going to a fallen world; and how essentially necessary it is for all who are the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, to live in such a way that their light can shine to those around them, that thereby they may be led to glorify our Father which is in heaven. I can say for one that I am striving so to live, through the grace of God, as to see at last the inside of the kingdom, and to stand with the hundred and forty-four thousand on mount Zion. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.14
I have been made to rejoice of late while attending a course of lectures at Marquette, delivered by Brn. Loughborough and Steward, in seeing so many coming out from Babylon and uniting in the truth of the third angel’s message. My prayer to God is, O Lord, Speed on the message, and hasten the time when thy servants shall all be sealed with the seal of the living God, and shall be found without fault before the throne, and without guile in their mouths, and shall be prepared and waiting for their Lord when he shall return from the wedding. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.15
Important events are just before us. Soon the Son of man will come in the glory of his Father and with the holy angels to reward every man according to his works. At that time one company will be crying for rocks and mountains to fall on them, to hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and the wrath of the Lamb, while another will be exclaiming, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him and he will save us. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.16
Reader, to which of these companies do you wish to belong? Do you want eternal life? Keep God’s commandments, for they will give you a right to the tree of life, and enable you to enter in through the gates into the city. Do you want the opposite? Violate God’s law and you will find the wages of sin to be death. May the Lord grant that we all may be wise and so live as to secure an interest in the atoning blood of Christ, by keeping his Father’s commandments; which alone will prepare us for abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.17
RUFUS BAKER.
Mackford, Green Lake Co., Wis.
Bro. J. Crapsey writes from Port Alleghany, Pa.: “I have just returned from a place called West Branch of Pine Creek, Potter Co., Pa. I arrived there on the first day of the week, and attended a meeting with the brethren there at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. I gave notice also that I would preach on next day at 5 o’clock and so continue my meetings for a few days. A goodly number were present to hear the word of the Lord. As soon as I entered the house it was whispered in my ears, “It makes no difference what day you keep for the Sabbath: and when you are among the Romans, do as the Romans do. Let every one of you be fully persuaded in his own mind. Let no man judge you in respect to the sabbath-days; and we cannot tell which is the seventh day or Sabbath.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.18
I was also told by others that we have lost some time; in short, that it makes no difference, but that the seventh part of time should be kept, etc. But the Lord sent me to deliver no such message to the people, nor to daub with untempered mortar. We are commanded to let the trumpet give a certain sound; for if it gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? 1 Corinthians 14:8, 9. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.19
I then preached about the ten commandments as contained in the decalogue, and showed to the people, as far as in my power, how the fourth commandment was neglected, subverted, nullified and trampled under foot by those who call themselves Christians, and even those who call themselves Christians, and even those who profess to preach Jesus. The line of distinction was soon very apparent; and with some it was clearly manifest that the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. See Romans 8:7. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.20
Some ten persons however decided to keep the Sabbath of the Lord their God, in preference to keeping the commandments of men; and on fifth-day morning as I was about to take my leave of them and return home, the people met me on the bank of a beautiful stream which winds its way gently down through the valley to the Pine Creek waters, to attend to the ordinance of baptism. Three obeyed the command of Jesus in this respect. A few more appeared to be deeply affected, and expressed a desire to hear more about these new doctrines of which they had been hearing. They earnestly desire and request the prayers of the church that they may enter into the kingdom that Jesus has gone to prepare for his people. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.21
I would ask for my own information as well as some others, Where is the authority of some modern divines and others, for saying that there has been a loss of time? Is it, or is it not a fable of these last days? Will you or some of your readers please answer the above questions, as I frequently meet with such observations. It seems to me to be too late in the day to be dealing out fables to the people.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.22
The only answer we get to the question our brother proposes, “Where is the authority for claiming that time has been lost?” etc., is from echo; and that only answers, “Where?” If it had the power of supplying words, as in the felicitous style of Mr. Fillio it has, it would answer, “Nowhere.” - ED. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 95.23
No Authorcode
BATTLE CREEK, MICH., THIRD-DAY, AUG. 7, 1860
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C. C. B. of Mass.: The day of atonement meets its antitype, we think, wholly in the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, without regard to the character or circumstances that attended that day in the type. Thus on the feast of Pentecost in the type [Leviticus 23:15-21], a day was set apart, a convocation called, and all work forbidden, the same as on the day of atonement. Yet in the fulfillment of this type as recorded in the commencement of Acts 2, we find none of these circumstances taken into account. We conclude therefore that the time occupied in the celebration of certain types, and the peculiar circumstances attending them, were not typical, and hence require no corresponding time, during which we should abstain from labor, etc., in the antitype. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.1
L. L. L. of Vt.: “The beast,” spoken of in Revelation 13, is the papal beast; and it is the mark of this beast which the two-horned beast enforces. The two-horned beast has no mark of its own, but enforces that of another power. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.2
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THE Hope of the Gospel, or Immortality the Gift of God, by J. N. Loughborough. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.3
This is a work of 172 pp. enlarged size. It is designed to take the place of Bro. L.’s former work on the immortality question, and covers the main ground of the question more fully than that work did. For general circulation, to shed light upon the subject, and to meet the common objections, we regard it as an excellent work. Every brother and sister should have a copy, and read up and be posted on the subject. You should also always have a spare copy to lend or to give to that friend of yours who needs light. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.4
Price 15 cents single copy; $10 per 100. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.5
J. W.
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THIS meeting which has been already spoken of in the Review, has just closed. The interest increased from the commencement to the close. We cannot tell how many have commenced to keep the Sabbath, as they have come in from several miles around. We have talked with over forty who have decided to keep the Sabbath. Quite a number of these have taken a part in our social meetings, which we have had every Sabbath since the meetings commenced. Seventeen were baptized during the meetings, and others probably will be, the first opportunity. The tent will go on to Lodi, where it will be pitched next week, but we shall tarry behind another Sabbath and First day. There is another opposition sermon next Sunday on the Immortality question which we must attend to, and we wish to talk some more to the brethren and sisters. Many of those who have come out never made a profession of religion. One man was a rum-seller when we came, and had a ball at his hotel the fourth of July. A day or two after the fourth he came to the meeting, embraced the truth, stopped the liquor selling, and last Sabbath was baptized. Yesterday he carried the tent on five miles towards the next place of meeting. Our hearts are still encouraged to labor on in this good work. Brethren, pray for us, that the Lord’s hand may be with us in our efforts to spread the truth. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.6
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH. T. M. STEWARD.
Kingston, Wis., July 31st, 1860.
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I LEFT my family the 6th inst. and started for the Eastern Iowa tent, and arrived at Rome, the seat of labor on the 10th inst. I there joyfully met for the first time with Bro. and Sister Cornell. I was much fatigued and worn down when I made my arrival, and to meet with such warm-hearted and devoted followers of Christ was to me as refreshing and encouraging as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land is to the wearied traveler in Arabia’s cheerless desert. I soon learned from Bro. C. how the prospects appeared for success. There was a good and growing interest. Everybody seems to be wide awake, deeply engaged, and much interested. Many were rejoicing that good was going to be effected in Rome. But soon we were informed that there was opposition on the ground. This was not strange news; for the Devil is surest to rally where the greatest good is being done. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.7
Elder Lucas (a Campbellite), was our opponent. Not feeling very pugilistic, we did not give the Heeman-like Elder a very warm reception. But he wanted to try his skill against the law of God, to see if he could not show that it was abolished. We heard him and then reviewed his discourse. He stated that the seventh day of the week was the only weekly Sabbath. We thanked him for this admission, and made it tell heavily against his no-Sabbath doctrine. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.8
His next position was that the ten commandments were the Sinaitic covenant, not made with the fathers, but the Israelites only, who were alive that day. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.9
We replied, first, that according to his position the law was binding only on those in the covenant. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the other patriarchs were out of this covenant; for it was made only with their children; therefore they could all get to heaven in the violation of the ten commandments. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.10
Secondly, this covenant was not made with David, Solomon and the prophets, and therefore was no more binding on them than on the fathers. He next stated that the ten commandments being the old covenant, their abolition was represented and proved by Galatians 4, and adduced the bond woman and her son as his evidence. This was fatal to his cause. He acknowledges nine of the ten to be binding, hence by his own showing, his own system instead of being exclusively Christian as many think, is composed of nine-tenths of Hagar the bond woman. He did not sustain a position against the law of God, but left unanswerable evidence behind him that the carnal mind is not subject to God’s law, and that the dragon is wroth with the remnant for keeping the commandments of God and faith of Jesus. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.11
From this time our meeting passed on without interruption, and we had peace and harmony until last Sunday. Early we learned that Eld. McConnel of Marion was in town, and it was probable that he wished an appointment to oppose God’s holy law. I preached a discourse at half past ten o’clock on the two covenants, and for his benefit exposed his system in its native deformity. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.12
At the close of our meeting, he announced an appointment for an opposition meeting. We then offered him the tent, which he accepted and preached against us. Here I must confess my disappointment. Never before did I hear such thunder with so little lightning. Well, thought I, this is one of Jude’s clouds without water. He spent some time trying to convince the people of what we all believed, that all morality had its source in God. He argued that God was not dependent on creation for existence, else he could not exist without creation. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.13
In my review I observed that this was all correct - admitted that he had thus proved God a moral being. Now for the application. If the Sabbath of the Lord is dependent on law for its existence, then it cannot exist without law. But the Sabbath did exist before the proclamation of the law. Exodus 16. Therefore according to the Elder, the Sabbath is a moral institution. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.14
He stated that moral principle could no more be abolished than God could be abolished. Also that the ten commands were legal enactments, merely designed to illustrate the moral principles which existed before. To this I replied, first, If his position be true, then there are ten moral principles. Hence if the ten commands are not now binding, either one of these moral principles is abolished, or it has no legal enactment to illustrate it. But he says it cannot be abolished. Therefore the moral obligation of the Sabbath yet exists in full force. Second, I replied that if God required ten legal enactments once to illustrate ten moral principles, he requires the same yet, unless some one can show that his desire is changed. He said also that the decalogue favored slavery; but he forgot that Christ said, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” We reminded him of this in our review. He also tried to make it appear that the decalogue was not a perfect code of laws. Here we introduced him to David with whom he joined issue immediately. For David declared the law of the Lord is perfect. Great men will differ!! ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.15
We closed the review to the satisfaction of all present, except a few of his antinomian friends. The people almost universally say that his points were well met, and his objections successfully answered. Oh when will men cease to wage war against their own best interests. Our meeting closed in good humor and triumph on the side of truth. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.16
B. F. SNOOK.
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DEAR BRETHREN: We are out of money and in debt. Our work has been crippled all summer for want of means. Shall the work stop here? or will you do what you can for us immediately? Are there not some who have not subscribed who would esteem it a privilege to help us forward the Lord’s cause? ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.17
Done by order of the Southern Iowa Tent Committee. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.18
M. HULL.
Knoxville, Iowa, July 28, 1860.
Bro. C. G. Daniels writes from Paulding Co., Ohio: “I would like to say a word to the lonely ones who have not the privilege of meeting with those of like precious faith on the Sabbath. Be not weary in well-doing. If the Lord is on your side, he is strong and able to deliver all those who put their trust in him, and when trials and disappointments seem to hedge up your pathway and hinder your progress in the heavenly journey, then call upon the Lord out of a pure heart for sustaining grace, and he will send you strength from the heavenly sanctuary in every time of need. Myself and wife are the only Sabbath-keepers in Paulding Co., to my knowledge. We have the privilege of meeting with the church at Ayersville occasionally, which is about ten miles distant. This is a great blessing to us. The Review is all the preaching we have here, and we delight in the truths it contains.” ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.19
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PROVIDENCE permitting the Wisconsin tent will be pitched for meetings, Aug. 7th, in Lodi, Columbia Co. Wis., and continue there as long as the interest demands. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.20
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
T. M. STEWARD.
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M. E. Haskell: The INSTRUCTOR has been sent to A. E. N. ever since your former letter; at which time we also sent back numbers. We now send back numbers again. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.21
M. Edson: The paper has been sent free to M. C. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.22
W. L. Saxby: The $2 from H. G. Dana will be found receipted in No. 7, present volume. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.23
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Annexed to each receipt in the following list, is the Volume and Number of the ‘Review and Herald’ to which the money receipted pays. If money for the paper is not in due time acknowledged, immediate notice of the omission should be given. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.24
T. S. Harris 1,00,xvii,12. Ch. in Allegan (S. B.) for Geo. T. Smith 1,00,xviii,1. A. I. Rockwell 1,50,xvii,1. J. Andrews (for Mrs. M. Armstrong) 1,00,xvii,12. A. Palmer 1,00,xviii,1. M. Richardson 1,00,xvi,13. J. Stryker 1,00,xix,1. E. Merrill 1,00,xv,1. L. Russell 2,40,xvii,5. G. W. Newman 1,00,xvii,1. J. Landes 0,50,xvii,12. A. Caldwell 1,50,xvi,10. A. Caldwell (for W. H. Fortune 0,50,xvi,10; A. L. W. Martin 0,50,xvii,12) 100. J. H. Lott 0,50,xvii,12. J. C. Gamble 0,50,xvii,12. F. A. Stevens 1,00,xvii,7. S. Myers 1,00,xvii,1. I. J. Andrews 3,00,xviii,1. S. Pierce 1,00,xvii,1. H. Grant 1,82,xviii,6. A. D. Thomas 2,00,xviii,13. W. D. Sharpe 2,00,xvi,15. Wm. Herald 3,00,xvii,18. N. M. Gray 1,00,xix,1. Jno. Wolfe 1,00,xvii,7. Mrs. R. Beecher 1,00,xvii,1. N. Cranson 0,50,xvii,12. F. Brodrick 0,50,xvii,12. L. Wells 0,50,xvii,12. G. Tibbals 0,50,xvii,12. C. Daniel 0,50,xvii,12. T. Smith 0,50,xvii,12. J. Holloway 0,50,xvii,12. W. Magee 0,50,xvii,12. J. Wheaton 0,50,xvii,12. E. C. Brisse 1,00,xix,22. F. Howe 0,50,xvii,12. P. Palmbla (for J. Palmbla) 1,00,xviii,12. L. Spangler 0,50,xvii,12. A. Lutz 1,00,xvii,1. C. F. Hall 1,00,xvii,11. W. L. Saxby 1,00,xvii,1. H. Grover 1,00,xvii,11. J. M. Avery 1,00,xvii,1. J. Berry (for Mrs. S. Rollin 0,63,xvii,12; for N. Berry 0,50,xvii,12) 1,13. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.25
FOR MISSIONARY PURPOSES. Wm. H. Perkins $0,54. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.26
FOR M. B. CZECHOWSKI. Ch. in Allegan, Mich. (S. B.) $5. Ch. in Byron, Mich. (S. B.) $3. P. Palmbla $2. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.27
FOR MICH. TENT. Sr. J. Lane $1. Ch. in Byron Mich. (S. B.) $3. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.28
FOR BRO. MEAD. H. Keeney $5. Ch. in Allegan, Mich. (S. B.) $5. ARSH August 7, 1860, page 96.29